42 ANNUAL REPORT OF 



former forest are to be found. This Old Forest consists of a 

 mixture of white and red pines with spruce, fir, jack pine, paper 

 and yellow birches, aspen, maple, ash, elm and other trees. The 

 old white and red pines, or "monarchs," of 200 years and upwards, 

 form an upper story to this forest, while the mixture comprising 

 the lower story will range up to 150 years in age. The area of 

 the Old Forest is small but it is important to note its existence 

 as evidence in support of the belief that a good forest cover may 

 be maintained on these lands and valuable timber grown if fires 

 are kept under control. 



Jack pine occurs in three ages or groups. The jack pine of 

 the Old Forest is about 130 years old. It averages from 12 to 14 

 inches in diameter and will cut from 2 to 4 logs per tree, but 

 is not important as a timber producer. The volume of mer- 

 chantable jack pine in the Burntside Forest is estimated at 

 110,000 feet. 



The 35 year jack pine, the principal tree of the forest, ranges 

 everywhere and is found in the swamps as well as on the peaks 

 and ridges. The age seems to vary from 32 to 38 years, but we 

 have grouped it all as the 35 year class. In favorable locations 

 trees of this class reach 10 inches in diameter, but it more often 

 occurs as small poles of 4 or 5 inches in diamter. In some parts 

 of the Reserve these jack pine poles completely cover the ground 

 to the exclusion of other species, and again we find it in mixture 

 with aspens, maples, and birch of the same age, with an under- 

 growth of spruce and tamarack. This 35 year forest has been 

 eaten into by forest fires and thinned out in places to scattering 

 trees under which a new growth of jack pine and aspen has 

 sprung up. 



The age of the jack pine indicates, approximately, times when 

 fires swept over the country, and in recent years these seem to 

 have been more frequent than formerly for the younger jack pine 

 varies in large stands from 8 to 12 years, but for convenience we 

 have grouped these younger trees in the third class of jack pine, 

 the 10 year class. Below these three groups there are still younger 

 trees of all ages. The 10 year jack pine is from 1 to 2 inches in 

 diameter, and is frequently so thick on the 'ground that it is 

 difficult to pass through it. 



The jack pine is much subject to having its top blown off by 

 the wind, and where many of these tops lie on the ground in one 



